MEGA65 Links

Saturday, August 13, 2016

We can include GEOS with the MEGA65

Just a very quick but super exciting note to say that we have received permission to include GEOS with the MEGA65, provided that we do not charge any extra for doing so. Since we are creating our software suite as open-source, this is no problem at all for us, and means that we can potentially use GEOS to make the MEGA65 configuration menus etc using GEOS, which would make them look nice, and probably be much quicker to write as well.

7 comments:

Will GEOS be redesigned to exploit the new hardware power and allow for higher resolution in GEOS and more COLOR? Can GEOS be integrated and part of Mega65 permanently and not some external program in a disk? I was thinking of having GEOS like Amiga be the main kernal OS but in the menu of GEO it says switch to BASIC and after a couple of second pause it enters into the famous C65 basic and from c65 basic you can switch to c64 mode basic and run c65/c64 basic games and apps and the main GEOS run GEOS games and apps.

All of these things are still up in the air a bit. It will probably still boot to BASIC by default, but it might be something like if you wiggle the mouse during boot, it will boot into GEOS instead. Also, any menus on boot, e.g., from pressing special keys during boot, will likely enter into a GEOS based configuration menu/program.

Of course, even if GEOS were "just" an external program on a disk, we can still have the Hypervisor auto-insert that disk and start GEOS with some simple keyboard short-cut.

As for using extra resolutions and colour etc, this is something that I know Ralph is keen to implement, as am I. There are some complications in achieving this, but they are not insurmountable.

I agre, I think default boot shound be in Basic 10. Instead, pressing the C= key (or any other combinations) should go on a screen menu' whith shortcuts to C64 mode default spped, C64 turbo speed, Geos and do on...

The entire M65-project is getting 5% more exciting with every new post you guys publish, and running an _official_ release of GEOS in 2016 is just mind blowing! What's next - getting Quantum Link up and running again? ^_^

If you don't mind me asking, would I be right assuming the plan is to include GEOS on a physical disk in the box?

Everything is open-source, so you would be free to change what you wish. That said, you are also right in that it probably wouldn't be too hard for us to provide a config option to pick what you want to happen on boot.

About Me

Dr.
Paul Gardner-Stephen has had an interest in making computers do things
hey weren't designed to do reaching back to his school years, including helping to write LUnix, a UNIX-like preemptively multi-tasking operating system for the Commodore 64 computer.

At age
17 he had written software in assembly code to control a 30' industrial roll-former for export to Brazil before moving on create software to use PCs as hard-drives for 8-bit
computers. This software was sold on three continents and resulted in
Paul's first experience with mobile telecommunications in the form of
an NEC P3 analog cell phone in 1995.

Soon
after obtaining his doctoral degree Paul created the world's first
working and wearable shoe phone, and then made the necessary
arrangements to wear it aboard a commercial flight into US air space in
the post 9-11 era to demonstrate the increasing ubiquity of wearable
computers, with a particular focus on wireless health applications.

Along
the way Paul has remained deeply involved with his local church and
supporting development and disaster response activities in a variety of
locations.

No longer content to participate remotely, he is passionate
about creating technology that can save and transform the lives of
millions.

This passion has expressed itself in founding The Serval Project, a not-for-profit organisation that has created the first practical mesh mobile telephony system. It uses off-the-shelf cell phones, and even lets you keep your existing phone number while making free calls on the mesh. The Serval Project has reached the prototype stage and is expected to be trialled in various locations from late 2011.